To Forgive, Divine
by Impmon
Summary: Six years after a death of their friend drove four of the Digidestined apart, and their Crest had been dark for too long... (CH 2 added)
1. Default Chapter

To Forgive, Divine.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Standard disclaimer: I don't own any copyright to anything that I may mention below so don't bug me. Any C&D letters I may get will rest with my bills. in the fireplace. Same goes with any flame mail. This work shall not be published anywhere outside Fanfiction.net without my written consent.  
  
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"When a tragedy occurs, sometimes it brings the family and friends closer together. Usually it does bring the best out of the families and friends. But sometime people deal with them by drowning their sorrows in beer or other means. And then there are some families and friends that get driven apart. Unfortunately, I have to deal with four Digidestined who have been torn apart by a tragedy six years ago.  
  
"It is time for me to bring them here and get them to reconcile their differences and for them to rediscover their crests. For they had stayed too far from their path and allowed their crests to remain dark for far too long. In the past I have tried to send invitations but they all went unanswered. With only a few months before the imbalance of the Crest causes the Digiworld to be destroyed, I had to take matters in my hand..."  
  
Gennai tapped on his computer keyboard. "I am attempting to bring in Tai, Matt, Izzy, and TK."  
  
Elsewhere in the real world, it was night time in Japan. Tai, Izzy, and TK all were sleeping and they were unaware their computer had mysteriously turned itself on. Nor had they expected to be transported from their dreamland back to the Digiworld which they hadn't been to for years.  
  
And Matt, who was in USA doing his tour, would have been a little harder. Fortunately he had been near an ATM machine and Gennai have a mean of teleporting someone through the ATM. And thus begin a new adventure for the four Digidestined...  
  
-----  
  
"OW!" Tai cried as he rubbed his rear where he landed after being transported. He looked around and saw Matt, TK, and Izzy also had been transported. "OK, who's the wise guy that kidnapped me?" he demanded.  
  
Matt also found Izzy and he had a deathly glare toward Izzy. Izzy noticed Matt and returned the glare. TK was also visibly upset by the unexpected trip, and he was even more upset when he noticed Matt. "You!" TK shouted toward Matt. Matt became surprised as he never noticed his brother before.  
  
Izzy finally saw Tai and started fuming. "Why did you have to show your hairy face?"  
  
"As if I had a choice. Someone kidnapped me!" he retorted. "Was it you? Because if it was, I have no intention of apologizing to you for that night!"  
  
"You should have tried harder!" Izzy countered.  
  
"Me? You're the one who abandoned her and forced me to babysit her!"  
  
Gennai came up to the group and exclaimed "I need your attention! It is I that brought you here." But it became apparent to him that none of the four was paying any attention to him as all four were still arguing among themselves.  
  
"Everyone shut up!" Gennai bellowed. They all finally gave Gennai their attention. "Thank you. I had to bring all of you here. The Digiworld is slipping out of balance and we have a few months to restore it. In order to restore, all of you will need to rediscover your crests. Now if you don't think you can do it, feel free to step back to Earth." He motioned to his left. A greenish portal window opened up.  
  
"But this will be your only warning, and your only chance. If you step through that portal, I will be forced to strip you of your crest, your Digivice, delete your Digimon, and you will be no longer allowed to return to Digiworld."  
  
"Also if you keep fighting, I will kick you out. No exceptions! I need all four of your crests to be restored and restore the balance to the world. If you can't do that, I will find someone else who will!"  
  
All four had been quiet for a while. Then TK spoke up "I don't want to be in the same planet as that what's-his-name!" He was thumbing toward Matt.  
  
Matt folded his arms. "Fine! I know when I'm not welcome!" Matt turned to Izzy and added "I don't want to breathe the same air as that computer geek!"  
  
That only served to make Izzy even madder as he started storming toward the Digiport. TK ran and tackled Izzy and pinned him to the ground. Being a computer genius, Izzy wasn't as muscular as TK was and couldn't break free of TK's grip. "I'll be damned if I let you go!" TK shouted to Izzy.  
  
Tai only leaned against the tree. "I'm not going by myself so if no one goes, I stay."  
  
"Buck! Buck! Bucka-baw!" Matt shouted to Tai, flapping his arm like a chicken. Tai only glared at Matt.  
  
Gennai had given enough time before he closed the port. "You will all stay together and work to find yourselves. I have left you some camping gear and enough supply for one week. You will not be allowed to see your Digimon until you rediscover your crest. Any question?"  
  
TK finally let Izzy free as he got up and asked the first question "Why wait for so many years? Why didn't you bring us earlier?"  
  
"I tried! I sent you numerous invitations to come in but none of you bothered to accept it." Gennai eyed Izzy "And you never even checked your computer at all. I gave you all numerous chances. You all blew it and I had to bring you here by force." The veins on his neck were ballooning and threatened to blow.  
  
No one said anything more. They all felt a bit guilty. "I'll be watching you." Gennai then walked out, leaving all four by themselves.  
  
Tai finally moved as he started for the camping gear. He began to unpack them and found the tent. A rather large tent that he can't set up by himself. Only TK came over to help Tai set the tent up. Tai kept looking toward Matt and Izzy, who still had their backs turned toward each other. "What's their problem?" Tai asked TK.  
  
"From what I heard, about a month after Mimi's death, both got into a nasty fight. I think Matt ended up in the hospital. He didn't say much to me. I do know they haven't said a word to each other since then."  
  
Tai was a bit wide eyed at that story. "Wow... going for six years without a word."  
  
"And you?" TK asked Tai as they had just finished with the tent. "I heard some nasty words between Izzy and you."  
  
Tai just sighed. "He still blames me for Mimi's death. But I still say it was his fault in the first place." Tai looked toward TK as he tossed a sleeping bag in. "And what's your story?"  
  
"Matt wouldn't come when I needed him. And I'd rather not explain why I needed him." The pair had just finished moving the rest of the stuff inside the tent when TK said "I don't know about you but I'm going back to bed. It's still about two in the morning when I was pulled here."  
  
"Sounds good." Tai replied. Both went into the tent. "I only hope they do get some sleep." Tai said, referring to Izzy and Matt. Both Tai and TK were soon fast asleep, while Matt and Izzy continued their non speaking term.  
  
-----  
  
It would be late morning before Tai woke up. He saw TK was still sleeping, and Izzy had finally come in to sleep as well. But the fourth sleeping bag and a pillow were missing. Tai took a step outside and found Matt sleeping outside. Tai choose to ignore Matt and grabbed a fishing rod and made a short hike toward a nearby river.  
  
After what seemed like an hour, Tai figured he had enough fish for everyone. No sense starting an argument over who does what. As he was on his way back, he heard some shouting and when he got a view, he saw it was Matt and TK this time, both of their back turned to each other.  
  
Tai was getting tired of all the fighting. He chose to ignore them just for the sake of himself. He plopped the fishes down on the ground near the tent when Izzy snapped at him. "Why, I didn't think you had the courage to catch a fish, let alone a few."  
  
Tai just ignored him. "What's the matter? Afraid to face me like you were six years ago?" Izzy said.  
  
Tai's blood started to boil a bit. He's had enough of Izzy's accusations.  
  
"You acted like a coward and you let someone kill my wife!" Izzy's voice was cracking a bit.  
  
Tai's temper had reached the breaking point. He yelled "That's not true!" He swung his fist around and it connected with Izzy's cheek, knocking Izzy down rather hard.  
  
Both Matt and TK had heard the commotion and had just seen Tai punch Izzy down. Both were shocked that Tai would do that since Gennai had warned them about fighting.  
  
Gennai had indeed seen the punch as he appeared in holographic image. A green portal opened near the holo image. The holo said "Tai, you blew it! Leave!" The holo image of Gennai was pointing toward the portal.  
  
-----  
  
Had Tai lost it all? Would his Agumon be deleted for good?  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Chapter 2

To Forgive, Divine.

Chapter 2

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"No..." was Tai's only reply to Gennai's order.  He lowered his head.  "It's not my f-f-fault!  I-I tried..."

***flashback***

Both Tai and Mimi were leaving the store and Tai was carrying loads of packages and new clothes for Mimi.  "Thank you for helping me." Mimi said to Tai.

"Anything for a friend" Tai replied.  Izzy had been busy and Mimi needed some help carrying the packages so she managed to rope Tai into her shopping trip.

But as they went toward his car, someone from the alley grabbed Mimi away.  Tai dropped the packages and ran after the assailant, only to find himself facing the business end of the gun.

The assailant had mask over his face to hide his identity.  He shouted both to Mimi and Tai "Your purse and wallet!  Quick if you value your life!"

Tai then lurched to the assailant to try and stop him.  But the gun had gone off, hitting Tai in his leg.  Tai yelped and went down in pain as the assailant told him "Bad move!"  He then shot a couple times into Mimi before grabbing her purse and ran off.

Mimi never cried in pain, she just slumped down.  Tai managed to crawl over to Mimi and held her in his arms.  "Please don't die!" he said it over and over, crying a bit.

Ambulance finally came to pick up both and took them to the hospital.  Tai had spent several days in the hospital recovering from the massive blood loss.  The doctor said he was just a few minutes away from having bled to death.  

Mimi never woke up at all.  

Unfortunately, the assailant was never caught.

***back to reality***

Tai looked like he was about to have a breakdown from having to remember the last moments of his friend's life.  He felt like he was about the throw up.  He never noticed that the Crest of Courage hidden in his chest had begun to glow.

The Digiport gate closed down, much to Tai's surprise.  He wiped his tears away as Gennai said "You were braver than you give credit for.  You stayed with her even though you knew you needed help, allowing Mimi her last few moments in your safe and peaceful hands.  But it took real courage to bring up sad memories, just as you did."  The holo image extended his hand for Tai.

Tai was still shaking a bit from having to recall such a bad memory that he buried away for six years.  He managed to find the holo's hand and they shook it.  "Welcome back, Tai.  I'm glad you've decided to stay with us."

Izzy had dropped himself even closer to the ground.  "Oh what have I done?"  Now that he finally heard the full story, he was beginning to realize Tai did indeed tried to help.  And it was not his fault after all.  Izzy could only bury his face in his hands.  "Oh Tai, Tai... can you ever forgive me?"

Matt couldn't even look now that he found out Tai hadn't quit on Mimi and that he wasn't a coward after all.  "Tai... I'm... sorry."  Matt still couldn't look in Tai's eyes.

Tai finally took a look at Izzy.  "It's my fault.  I should have told you long ago but I could never bring myself to face the nightmare.  I can forgive you if you can forgive me."  Izzy only nodded.  "And Matt, I accept your apology."

The holo image told Tai "You may come to my house.  Your sister awaits you there."  The image vanished as Tai started to walk away from the camp site.  Now only three remained at the camp site.

-----

Later in the afternoon, TK was sitting all alone by the river.  He was a bit shaken from Tai's full story.  He threw a stone and it skipped across the surface a few times before it sank in the water.

Matt found TK and joined him by the river.  "How do you feel?" he asked TK.

TK never responded, only continued to throw stone across the river.  Matt looked at his little half brother who was now an adult.  But TK was still his brother. "Please, tell me..."

***flashback***

Matt had finally found some free time so he flew to Japan to meet with TK and Nancy.  When he arrived at their apartment, he called out "Mom!  Where's TK?  He said he needed me a few weeks ago."

"He's in his bedroom" Nancy turned and went to TK's room and said "TK, your brother is here to see you."

"Send him away!  I don't have a brother!" came the angry sounding reply.

That word had struck Matt really painfully like daggers to his heart.   Some months later when Matt got together with the family for Christmas, TK never spoke a word to him and wouldn't listen to him either.  He hadn't seen TK since then...

***back to reality***

Matt clutched his chest.  It still pained to this day.  The words had stuck with him since then and no matter how he tried, the pain wouldn't go away.   "...TK?"

"You wouldn't come when I needed you!" TK snapped.  He was starting to get upset.

"Couldn't" Matt corrected before realizing he shouldn't have said it.

"Wouldn't!" TK countered.  "I tried to get you to come home to Japan but you said you were booked for a month!  You could have postponed your concerts but nooooo!" TK threw his arms up in anger.  "You'd rather make more money!"

TK had started to cry a bit.  Matt leaned over and patted TK's shoulder.  "Can you tell me now why you needed me then?"

TK gave the silent treatment again.  "TK, I can't read your mind and I can't help you if you won't talk."

TK sniffed and choked a bit as he thought back a few hours ago when Tai had opened up his old memory like an old wounds.  He realized he can't keep it hidden anymore no matter how much it would hurt.  "A few months after Mimi died, I started having strange fainting spells and I always felt tired even if I had long sleep.  I always was feeling hungry no matter what I had. And I was having unusual weight loss.  So my Mom took me to the doctor for some tests."

TK bought his knees up together and he buried his head in them.  "The doctor found out I have Type 1 diabetes.  All those candies I've been eating since Mimi's death had caused my pancreas to overload, accelerated the damage from a genetic defect, and eventually it stopped working properly.  As a result I wasn't getting enough insulin and so my body couldn't get enough glucose to function."

He started crying softly.  "If I hadn't eaten so much sugary stuff, I might not have had diabetes so soon!  I needed you!"

He looked up to Matt, making an eye contact in non threatening way for the first time in many years.  "I have to spend the rest of my life pricking my finger for blood test and sticking needles in myself for insulin shots."

Matt couldn't find any word.  He could only rub TK's back.  "What happened to you playing music just for fun?"

Matt finally spoke up "I'm so sorry.  If only I knew..."  He shook his head and then hung his head rather low.  "I'll tell you what.  When we get back, I'll take some time off so we can have some time together.  If my agent objects, tough!"

TK looked up to his older brother and wiped the tears off of his face.  "I'm sorry I called you mean things.  Will you still be my brother?"

Matt leaned over to hug TK.  "You're forgiven.  I should have put my families before business.  And you shouldn't let the diabetes rule you life.  Maybe one day a cure would be invented that would reverse diabetes."

"You're right I shouldn't have let myself so down.  I should have kept the hope that I could be cured.  Thank you, I needed you a lot."

Both TK and Matt noticed the Crest of Hope had begun to glow from TK's chest.  As if on cue, the holo image of Gennai appeared in front of TK.  The holo looked odd because he appeared to be floating on the surface of the river.  "TK, welcome back, and thank you.  Your friend awaits you at my house."

As TK got up, he looked to his brother, who was still on the ground.  "Good luck, bro."

Matt nodded as he watched TK walk in the direction of Gennai's house.

-----

As soon as TK entered Gennai's house, Kari grabbed TK.  "I heard everything.  I'm so sorry!" 

TK wrapped his arms around Kari.  "Save your self pity.  The worst is yet to come." He said, referring to Matt and Izzy.  "They hadn't spoken for many years and I don't know if they would ever get back together."

Kari gave TK an odd look.  "That doesn't sound like Hope speaking.  You're sure it's you?"  Then she planted a quick kiss to show she was kidding a bit.

Sora and Joe came up to congratulate TK.  Tai also met with TK and extended his hand.  "That took a lot of courage to talk about it."

TK accepted the handshake.  "It was you, actually that helped me.  When you spilled your gut, it got me to thinking that keeping old emotions bottled up was causing our problem in the first place.  And it defiantly made it easier for me to talk with Matt."

"Anytime, TK" Tai replied, and gave a friendly slug to TK's shoulder.

Gennai came around and handed everyone a cool glass of thick yellow cream.  "It's egg nog.  Drink up!"  He took a quick sip.  "Aaahhhh" he said.  "And TK is right, those two remaining Digidestined have a lot of work cut out before they can rediscover their Crests and make peace between them."

"When they do get their problem out of the systems and their Crests healed, we can finally have a long overdue Christmas party!"  Gennai looked up to the Christmas tree, which was missing only one thing.  The star was not placed on top as of yet...  "Oh that reminds me I hadn't invited your Digimon over yet."  He had a bit of sheepish grin.

Kari asked "What drove them apart for so long?"

"I can't tell all the details.  All I can say was that about a month after Mimi died, I tried to get in touch with Izzy but he wasn't checking emails.  Since Matt was closer to Izzy's apartment at that time I had him sent over to Izzy's apartment to deliver my message.  Matt tried and they have been spilt ever since."

"Can you tell me what the message that Izzy had to know was?" Kari was interested since it was so unlike even for Izzy not to check emails.

"The message was me" came the new voice from behind Gennai.

Everyone was beyond dumbfounded at the newcomer.  "Oh my God!" Sora exclaimed and would have fallen if it wasn't for Tai.  Kari had fainted dead away.

-----

What did Matt or Izzy do that drove them into a 6 years long non-speaking hiatus?  Will Izzy and Matt ever reconcile their differences?  And what or who was the newcomer??

To be continued...


End file.
